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Page 114
had been left in charge of the men-at-arms in the castle while she changed into riding dress. She found Cedric of the Southfold waiting when she came down skirted and wimpled for riding. The old man's brow wrinkled with concern.
"Lady, we have no proper guard for you. Lord Ian took all but ten cripples like me."
There was fear in his face. Had the lady been in ignorance of Lord Ian's orders? Beorn was with the lord, and no one doubted that the lady's permission had been obtained. Had it not, heads would roll.
"Yes, I know," Alinor answered calmly, quieting her henchman's alarms. "If you can spare me five men fit for riding, that will be sufficient. I only go into the town and to the fishing villages along the shore. It will be safe enough."
It should have been safe. Cedric would not have argued with Alinor in any case, but he felt as she did. Nonetheless, he chose the ablest men he had and saw that they were well-armed. There was no trouble on the short road into the town. Alinor dismounted at the harbormaster's house. The man was already at the foot of the outside stair and bowed her cringingly into the solar. Alinor's eyes swept the room, the fine rug on the floor before the hearth, the cushioned, carved chairs. After a sullen, gloomy day the sun had decided to peep out in the afternoon. Its golden light, glancing in through the gable window that faced south, gleamed on the polished wood of chests and warmed the reds and browns of the tapestried flowers on the walls.
It was time, Alinor thought, to check her harbor-master's accounts again. He held his place by her pleasure and by paying an annual fee for the right, and his wealth came from rents and fines on the merchantmen and ships that came into Roselynde harbor. This was all accepted practice, but if the fees and fines were set too high, ships would seek out other harbors. It seemed to Alinor that the harbormaster's comforts

 
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